# US 10,503,974 B2 · Iris capture apparatus, iris capture method, and storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,503,974 B2 - Document ID: US10503974B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/283,038 - Filed: 2019-02-22 - Published: 2019-06-20 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2016-08-24 - Assignees: NEC Corporation - Applicants: NEC Corporation - Inventors: Leiming Su; Hiroaki Morita; Mamoru Inoue - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10503974B2 ## CPC - G06V 40/19: Sensors therefor - A61B 5/1171: based on the shapes or appearances of their bodies or parts thereof - G06T 1/00: General purpose image data processing - G06T 7/00: Image analysis - G06V 40/193: {Preprocessing; Feature extraction} - G06V 40/197: {Matching; Classification} - G06T 2207/30201: Face - G06V 40/70: Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract The present invention provides a technology that acquires a high resolution iris image more quickly than before. An iris capture apparatus according to one example embodiment of the present invention includes a rotatable movable mirror; a control unit that controls rotation of the movable mirror; a capture unit that captures different regions of a face of a user via the movable mirror and outputs a group of images every time the control unit rotates the movable mirror by a predetermined angle; and an iris image acquisition unit that acquires an image of an iris of the user from the group of images. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An iris capture apparatus comprising: a processor configured to: activate a light source; and acquire, after the light source has been activated, a first image, the first image depicting an iris of a user, by: rotating a rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus repeatedly by a predetermined angle, wherein the light source is activated after the optic is rotated; capturing different regions of a face of the user and outputting a group of images when the rotatable movable mirror is rotated by the predetermined angle; and identifying an image depicting the iris of the user from the group of images as the first image. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to capture a second image, the second image depicting iris of the user, from the first image. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second image has a higher resolution than the first image. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus is rotatable about a first axis, and wherein the processor is configured to rotate the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus about the first axis for a predetermined number of times. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein respective parts of two neighboring capturing regions of the iris capture apparatus overlap with each other. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a position of the iris of the user by calculating a feature amount from the group of images and comparing the feature amount with a feature amount of a pre-stored iris. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a position of the iris of the user by composing the group of images to generate a composite image and detecting a position of an eye included in the composite image. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a gate that can be opened and closed, wherein the processor is configured to recognize whether or not the user is allowed to pass through the gate based on the image of the iris. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to repeatedly capture a space over a path on which the user moves to the gate until the iris image acquisition unit successfully acquires the image of the iris. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a light source that irradiates the user with a light, wherein the light source is arranged such that the region is irradiated with the optic of the iris capture apparatus. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, after acquiring the first image, the processor is configured to capture a second image, the second image depicting iris of the user. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to rotate the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus by the predetermined angle for a predetermined number of times. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein capturing different regions of a face of a user and outputting a group of images each time the rotatable movable mirror is rotated by a predetermined angle comprises: capturing a first capturing region when the rotatable movable mirror is at a first state, the first capturing region including a face of the user; rotating the rotatable movable mirror by the predetermined angle from the first state; and capturing a second capturing region. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the second capturing region is offset a predetermined distance in the vertical direction from the first capturing region. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a vertical length of at least one of the first capturing region and the second capturing region is about 6.7 cm. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined angle is smaller than or equal to about 7.5 degrees. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to repeatedly rotate the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus to acquire a high-resolution image of the iris of the user. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The iris capture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a number of repetition of rotation of the rotatable movable mirror is based on a distance between the iris capture apparatus and the user. ### Claim 19 A method of iris capturing comprising: activating a light source; and acquiring a first image after activating the light source, the first image depicting an iris of a user, by: rotating a rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus repeatedly by a predetermined angle, wherein the light source is activated after the optic is rotated; capturing different regions of a face of the user and outputting a group of images when the rotatable movable mirror is rotated by the predetermined angle; and identifying an image depicting the iris of the user from the group of images as the first image. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of iris capturing according to claim 19, capturing a second image, the second image depicting iris of the user including the iris of the user from the first image. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of iris capturing according to claim 20, wherein the second image has a higher resolution than the first image. ### Claim 22 (depends on 19) The method of iris capturing according to claim 19, rotating the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus about a first axis for a predetermined number of times. ### Claim 23 A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a program for performing a method of iris capturing comprising: activating a light source; and acquiring a first image after activating the light source, the first image depicting an iris of a user, by: rotating a rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus repeatedly by a predetermined angle, wherein the light source is activated after the optic is rotated; capturing different regions of a face of the user and outputting a group of images when the rotatable movable mirror is rotated by the predetermined angle; and identifying an image depicting the iris of the user from the group of images as the first image. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The medium according to claim 23, wherein the method further comprises: capturing a second image, the second image depicting iris of the user including a user's iris from the first image. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The medium according to claim 24, wherein the second image has a higher resolution than the first image. ### Claim 26 (depends on 23) The medium according to claim 23, wherein the method further comprises: rotating the rotatable movable mirror of the iris capture apparatus about a first axis for a predetermined number of times.